Don't Read My Hard Drive
by MaybeBaby27
Summary: After Derek's endless taunting of Casey goes too far, she decides to get revenge using his greatest weakness: Girls. Boundaries get crossed, lines are blurred, and a shocking secret comes out that changes everything. ON HIATUS.
1. Prologue

05/12/2007 20:07:00

**Ok so I'm tying something new here. I'm going to be posting as I go. No prewriting for me! I'm a little wary about doing it this way since I'm used to being able to move around the story and go back to the beginning and change things but this will be a new and interesting challenge! **

**This plot came from the mind of When0Derek0Met0Casey (here on FF and also on YouTube). She made a trailer and kindly handed the plot over to me since she knew she would never write it. Go watch the video, it's great! Just search 'Don't Read My Hard-Drive' on YouTube. It should be the first one. **

**IMPORTANT INFO: **

**This is just the prologue and really has nothing to do with what the first part of the story is about (see trailer), but it is information that will make much more sense later on. This flashback occurs just before Nora and George met. The ages of the kids (except Marti) are slightly changed just because it would work better for me. In the flashbacks Casey and Derek are 16 and Edwin and Lizzie are 13. Which makes their ages 18 and 15 in the present time.**

**Disclaimer: You should know what I do and don't own by now. And if you are absolutely clueless, just review and I'll tell you! ;)**

**Sorry about the lengthy a/n.**

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_**2 Years Ago…**_

"_You have your passport?"_

"_In my purse."_

"_And your ID?" _

"_Next to the passport."_

"_Oh and the cash I gave you—" _

"_Right here," Casey said patting her jacket pocket._

"_And what about—"_

"_Mom! I promise I have everything under control."_

_Nora looked at her daughter and sighed, releasing the deep breath she hadn't realized she been holding in. Casey smiled at her, feeling the familiar tightening of her throat as she saw unshed tears welling in Nora's eyes. "Oh Casey I'm going to miss you so much!"_

_Casey pulled her mom into a tight hug. "I'm gonna miss you too."_

_She kissed the side of Casey's head, pulling back to look at her. "Don't forget that this is supposed to be fun. Don't work too hard."_

_She laughed. Her mother knew her too well. "I love working hard! Especially when I'm dancing!"_

"_Just remember to relax sweetie. This is your entire summer vacation and then some."_

"_I love you mom," Casey said, speaking as though she was talking to a child. She slung her backpack over her shoulder, hugging Nora one last time. "Don't forget to tell Liz to call me once she gets back from Dad's. I still can't believe her visit couldn't have been pushed back just 5 more days."_

"_Well you know your father. Have a wonderful time! Don't forget to write to me and call everyday."_

"_I'll call you once a week."_

_Nora looked disappointed but nodded anyways. "Deal. I love you."_

_Casey gave her Mom a small wave as she turned and headed towards the airport security. She looked over her shoulder at Nora, a tear sliding down her cheek at the thought that she wouldn't see her for four months. As much as she would miss her mom and sister, she knew she had to go. How many times would she has the opportunity to go to one of the best sports training camps on the continent?_

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_**Meanwhile, on the other side of the airport…**_

"_Smarti, four months will be over before you know it," Derek stated kissing his teary eyed little sister on the cheek before wrapping her in a hug._

"_You promise?" Her little voice asked muffled against his shirt._

"_I promise. And we'll talk all the time on the phone and I'll write you okay?"_

"_Okay Smerek."_

_He released his hold on Marti and turned to Edwin, leaning down to whisper, "Drive Dad crazy for me, eh Ed?"_

"_Derek." George warned, looking pointedly at his oldest son._

"_I'm all over it!" Edwin stated ecstatically, holding his hand up for a high five. Derek responded by wrapping his arm around his shoulders pulling him in for a noogie, laughing evilly in the process._

_Derek pulled away from his brother, turning to George who put his hand out for a handshake, knowing his 16 year old son was not fond of hugs. Derek looked at his father's hand before pulling him into a quick man hug._

_When they parted, George put his hand on Derek's shoulder. "Got everything you need? Money, credit card, ID, passport?"_

"_Yeah I'm good. Bye guys." _

_Derek gave a nod before starting off in the direction of security. He was more than halfway to the line when he heard Edwin shouting. "WE LOVE YOU DEREK!!! WE'RE GONNA MISS YOU SO—" He was cut off by George's hand clapping over his mouth. Derek turned around, glaring at his brother, before giving his father a grateful smile and his sister a loving one. _

_He'd never openly admit it but he was really gonna miss them when he was gone. Four months was the longest he had ever been away from his family. But he lived for hockey and going to this training camp could be the thing that would push him ahead of others in the eyes of college scouts. And three months at a co-ed camp where the student to authority ratio was 15 to 1? He outwardly smirked at the thought of what he could do with that kind of freedom._

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_**4 Months Later…**_

"_I'm home!" Casey yelled as she pushed open the door to her Toronto home. She dropped her bags just inside the front door and peered tentatively around the corner, just in case her family and friends had decided to throw her a surprise welcome home party. She frowned when she noticed the room was empty. _

"_Hello?!" she called out again making her way through every room of the condo. Once she had decided that no one was home she sighed and flopped down on the couch. _

_Casey couldn't believe that she was finally home after four long months away and no one was there to greet her. She leaned back against the cushions and closed her eyes, a tear sliding down her cheek._

_After everything that had happened at the camp and coming home to an empty house, she didn't know if she could take any more changes. She pushed herself off the couch, grabbing her bags and making her way down the hall to her room. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a note on her dresser._

Casey,

Lizzie and I are SO sorry that we couldn't be here when you got back. Remember that man I've been seeing since you left, George? Well he surprised Liz and I with a trip to the zoo with his two youngest kids. Isn't that nice? Anyways, the seven off us (his oldest will be joining us too) are going to go out for a nice diner so be all dressed up and ready to go by 6. It's going to be a very special night!!

Welcome home! We missed you.

Mom

_By the time she finished reading her mom's letter she had sunk done to the floor. The last line 'It's going to be a very special night,' stuck out in Casey's mind. Casey finally let the sobs that she had been suppressing for the last few weeks come out. Her life was definitely about to change._

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"_Derek!"_

_He heard his name being called as he grabbed the last piece of his luggage off of the carousel. Slinging the bag over his shoulder, he turned around to look at the person who had called his name. The smile slid off his face, quickly being replaced by the frown he had become accustomed to in the last few weeks. They were calling out for another Derek. _

_He walked over to a nearby bench, dropping his bags on it and pulled out his cell phone. One new voicemail. _

"Hey Derek, it's Dad. I'm so sorry about this son but I'm not going to be able to pick you up from the airport. Just use the credit card and take a cab home. And be ready to leave the house by 6. We're going out to dinner with my girlfriend and her kids. We've got some important news to tell you kids! The restaurant is a pretty nice place so dress up. Missed you son."

_Derek hung up his phone and sunk into the bunch, his head falling into his hands. 'We've got some important news to tell you.' That what his Dad had said. He jammed the palms of his hand into his eyes, shoving aside the tears that were pooling there. Derek didn't know if he could take his Dad's 'happy news' which obviously, involved his girlfriend of 3 months. Especially not after everything that had happened over the past few weeks. It was too much to take. _

_After a few moments he lifted his head, sniffling slightly, and looked around to make sure no one had been watching him. Picking his luggage up once again he begrudgingly made his way to the exit, wondering if it was possible to feel any worse._

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**I know that was quite a depressing way to start the story, but I promise you it won't always be this bad. Please keep an open mind and continue reading!**


	2. Chapter 1: Two Years Later

**Sorry about the long wait. I had major writer's block for this story, which I blame on college applications. And since I happened to write this all about an hour after finally finishing them, I really do think that's what was stopping me!**

**A few things you need to remember:**

**- From this chapter on (unless I mention otherwise) the story will be in present time, which takes place two years after the prologue.**

**- Casey and Derek are just under 18 years old. Edwin and Lizzie are 15. Marti is about 8.**

**Disclaimer: I being a lowly fan, make no claims over LWD or anything else I don't own in this here fan fiction. Things I do own: The Plot. Connor. Dialogue. **_**Michael Seater. His hair. Derek Venturi. His wardrobe.**_** (Did you sense where I trailed off there?)**

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**Present Time**

"Just go over there and do it!" Emily said encouragingly to Casey as she took a book out of her locker.

Casey glanced longingly at the boy across the hall before turning back to her friend. "But…I'm a girl!"

"Case, we're halfway through senior year. Don't you think it's about time you jump out of that comfort zone feet first? And what about that feminist stuff you're always talking about. Isn't it like encouraging to womankind or whatever to take charge?"

"Just because I believe in feminism doesn't mean that I don't appreciate chivalry. And before you say it, it is not dead. I stand strong by that."

"Alrighty then." Emily said with a chuckle. "But I still think you should just go ask him out. I really think he's interested."

"Really?" Casey stated looking back across the hall. "Maybe I will go talk to— Derek!"

Emily turned around from her locker and looked at her confused. "Derek?! I thought we were talking about Connor?"

"No." Casey scoffed, rolling her eyes as she pointed discreetly at Derek who had made his way to Conner's locker.

"Oh. Well now you really should go talk to him. Before Derek plants any outlandish ideas in his head about you."

Casey moaned, whimpering a little as she gave Emily a helpless look. "Okay. I'm gonna do it."

She took a deep breath, stumbling as she turned to walk towards Connor. As she got closer she could hear Derek talking about what she could only assume were lies about her.

"… But honestly man, she's got a huge—"

"Casey!" Connor stated a grateful smile appearing on his lips. "How are you?"

"Probably much better than you are, well…" she looked Derek up and down disapprovingly. "…Considering. Care to run off Derek? I'm sure there's tons of homework you need to start avoiding."

Derek laughed sarcastically. "You're hilarious Casey. Ever considered being a stand up comedian?" He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. I meant clown."

Connor laughed nervously, as did most people when they were caught in the middle of one of Derek and Casey's many bantering matches. "Casey was there something you needed?"

"Actually, I had something I wanted to ask you. Do you think that maybe you'd…" She trailed off when she noticed that Derek was still standing behind her, listening intently. "Uh, Derek? Do you mind?"

"Oh no not at all." He stated smugly, moving his previously crossed arms to place his hands in his pockets. "Feel free to shut up at any time."

"Derek how about we finish our conversation later?" Connor suggested, desperate for him to leave. He had always been a little nervous around Derek, especially when Casey was around.

"Ok dude." Derek said punching him on the shoulder. "See you at practice."

"Later man." Connor said, letting out the breath he was holding.

"Spacey." Derek said good-naturedly as he walked past her.

"Idiot." She stated giving his retreating form a dirty look, before putting a smile back on her face for Connor.

Smiling back at her, Connor touched her elbow. "So you were saying?"

"Uh, ha, I was just… _wondering_ if maybe you'd want to, _I dunno_, go out with me… on Friday?"

His face fell, his genuine smile being replaced by a tentative one. "Oh you mean like on a date."

Casey laughed nervously, twirling the hair from her pigtail. "Yeah. I was thinking maybe we could go to the football game, or to the movies or something. Whatever you want."

"Um, Casey, I'm sorry but I don't think so."

Casey froze, her smile turning into an embarrassed grimace. "Oh. Okay. That's um, sure, I'll just see you tomorrow than." She turned around, nearly tripping as she tried to walk back to Emily. She put her hand on her forehead, attempting to shield her reddening face from the rest of the hallways occupants.

"What happened?" Emily asked putting her arm around Casey as she fell into step with her.

"He said no so now I have to go cower in the girl's restroom for all eternity."

"Oh Casey I'm sorry. After I talked to him yesterday I was so sure he liked you! I did my research and everything." Casey suddenly froze in the middle of the hall, Emily still walking a few steps before she stopped and looked back at her confused. "What?"

"Oh I'm sure he did like me yesterday."

"Huh?"

"He may even have liked me 10 minutes ago." She stomped past her friend, angrily muttering her stepbrother's name under her breath.

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Walking in the house, Casey saw Derek sitting alone in the living room watching TV from his chair. Narrowing her eyes at him she slammed the front door. When he still didn't pay her any attention, she threw her books onto the ground and put her hands on her hips.

"Derek!"

"I'm deaf to all noise made by people with the initials CM," he stated, his eyes remaining focused on the hockey game.

Growing increasingly frustrated, she stomped over to him, pounding her left foot down on the footrest of his chair, causing it to thrust him forward onto the ground.

"What the hell Casey?!" He yelled pushing himself up to stand in front of her.

"'What the hell?!' is right Derek? What's your damage?"

"My damage? I'm not the one who—"

"Yes _your_ damage." She growled, cutting him off. "What is with your obsessive involvement in my love life? Do you actually plan your days around messing it up or is it just a happy accident on your part?"

"Awww. What's the matter? Connor turn you down? Poor baby." Derek responded with faux compassion, patting her on the head as he sat back down. "Maybe it was your hair. It's looking a little ratty today."

"Deny all you want but the next time you get the urge to lie to a guy just so he won't go out with me, remember that I have a lot of ammunition against you."

His head jerked towards her, his eyes flashing with the hurt that Casey knew only she could recognize. "That's low even for _me_, Case. I didn't do anything. If Connor turned you down its cause you're a freak. It has nothing to do with me." He turned his attention back to the TV, the breezy tone returning to his voice as he waved her off. "Now shoo."

Casey sighed when she realized he was telling the truth, now feeling more confused than ever about Connor. "He didn't turn me down. He just… you know he—"

"Laughed in your face?" Derek suggested. Casey grunted disapprovingly, shooting him a dirty look.

"OK. How about rejected you?"

She growled one last time, throwing a pillow from the couch at him before turning to the stair landing.

"Charming Casey." He stated moving to follow her up. "I'm really very shocked he said no."

She cast him a glare over her shoulder as she ascended the stairs, Derek only two steps behind her.

He smirked, her anger only egging him on. "Would you have preferred he said _hell_ no?"

Casey slammed her bedroom door in his face, locking it before throwing herself down onto her bed.

The wooden object didn't stop Derek as continued shouting out insults. "What about 'Not if you were the last woman on earth.' I think that's appropriate."

Grabbing a pillow, she let out a muffled scream into it. Derek heard and chuckled, talking under his breath as he started back down the stairs.

"And I didn't even break a sweat."

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_Clunk! Scrape._

Edwin exchanged a knowing look with Lizzie at the sound. She rolled her eyes, glancing from Derek, who was smugly sipping his water, to her sister, taking her anger out on her vegetables and the diner plate.

_Clunk! Scrape_

After the tenth or so stabbing of a fork into mashed potatoes, Nora put down her own silverware and turned to her daughter.

"Something bothering you honey?"

Casey looked up, fixing Derek was a scathing glare, as she once again stabbed at her food.

"Why don't you ask dickhead over there?" she said motioning across the table with a tilt of her head.

"Casey! Watch your mouth!" Nora exclaimed as her husband said, "Derek, what did you do?"

"Thanks a lot, bitch." Derek bemoaned, leaning back in his chair.

"Derek! You keep up with the language and the pranks, I swear you won't see the next hockey season."

"She just called me a dickhead!"

"And her language at the table will not go unpunished either." Nora said looking disapprovingly at her daughter.

"What's a dick?" Marti asked innocently.

Edwin burst out laughing as Lizzie choked on her drink, coughing to clear her throat.

"Lizzie. Edwin. Take your sister and go do the dishes." George stated rubbing tiredly at his eyes. The youngest three members of the family cleared the room, closing the kitchen doors behind them. George opened his eyes looking back and forth between Casey and Derek, who were involved in a deadly looking staring match. "It's been nearly two years. Your incessant quarreling is getting old."

"Dad, she's just pissed because a guy turned her down and she's taking it out on me. I did nothing."

"If you did nothing then what were you talking about when I walked up to you guys in the hall today?" Casey asked accusingly.

"I was telling him about an engine on this wicked new car a guy on the team just got."

"Yeah okay." She responded disbelievingly, before calling him a choice name under her breath.

"Casey McDonald." Nora warned.

"I'm sorry mom but I can't take it anymore. He intentionally ruined my chances with a guy!"

"Ugh!" Derek groaned throwing down his fork. "How many times do I have to say it?! I though you got it this afternoon. I didn't say anything to Connor! If he said no it cause he's not interested. And I really don't blame him."

"Derek, even if you didn't say anything to this boy you're still not in the clear." Nora stated gently. "Your comments are completely unnecessary and just make matters worse."

"Nora's right, Derek." George added. "Apologize."

He scoffed, sounding completely unapologetic when he opened his mouth. "Fine. I'm _sorry_ Casey."

"You should be."

George turned his attention to Casey. "You need to apologize too."

"For what?!"

Nora sighed putting her hand on Casey's. "Casey I'm sorry that you were hurt, but I believe Derek this time when he says he didn't do anything. Now please say you're sorry."

Casey turned to Derek, her lip curling in disgust. "I'm _sorry_."

\------------------------/

"They seem really upset over this. It's not even a big deal." Edwin whispered looking down at Lizzie, who, like him, had her ear pressed against the kitchen door.

"Who are you kidding?! Everything they fight about is always about something more than what it seems."

They turned their attention back to the muffled voices coming from the dining room in time to here Casey mutter a sarcastic apology.

_George let out a deep sigh. "Too many times we've let you guys off and nothing changes, so I think it would be best if you both are grounded for a few days."_

_Derek and Casey both began protesting loudly._

"Oh great, thanks Dad!" Edwin whispered sarcastically. "Confine them both to the house so we all want to kill ourselves."

"Hey now! Try to look on the bright side. They might snap and finally kill each other." Lizzie responded.

Edwin looked down at her, his lip curling into an amused smile. She smiled back before turning back to the door a lock of her hair falling from behind her ear. He resisted the urge to brush it off her face, instead forcing his hand into his pocket, turning to look through the tiny crack between the doors again.

Lizzie glanced up at him, her brow furrowing. "Are you okay?"

"I'm great. Fine. Why do you ask?"

"Well if you keep biting your lip like that you're gonna draw blood." She brought her hand up to his chin, her fingers gently grazing it. "And you know nurse Lizzie does everything except blood."

Edwin groaned inwardly as the image of her in a short, tight nurse's uniform flashed through his mind. Sometimes he found her innocence at seemingly obvious innuendo amusing, but most of the time he hated how much her words teased him.

"What are you guys doing?!" Marti yelled as she came in through the backdoor.

They both shot up from their kneeling positions and jumped away from each other and the door.

"Marti!" Lizzie exclaimed sounding nervous. "I though we told you to go play in the backyard?"

"It's all muddy outside."

"Didn't you say you loved dirt?" She questioned.

"Not when it's mixed with water! Get with the program Liz!" Marti exclaimed.

"Yeah Liz!" Edwin stated, shoving her playfully. "Jeez!"

Lizzie scoffed, shoving him back as she glared at him, a flirtatious grin on her lips.

"CAN WE COME OUT NOW PLEASE?" Marti yelled to the door.

"Yes you may," Nora responded.

Peering out into the dining room after Marti, Edwin and Lizzie noticed their older siblings missing from the table. Turning their attention back to each other, they exchanged a knowing glance.

"Research duty tonight?"

"My room, 10 sharp." Edwin stated, slinking through the halfway open gliding doors and up the stairs.

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**What do you think?! Tell me what you hate, what you love, what you'd like to see and what you don't want to see. I'll take it all into consideration.**

**Reviews are encouragement! So on with it.**


	3. Chapter 2: The Proverbial Light Bulb

10/01/2008 21:14:00

**So once again I say sorry about the wait. I didn't have writer's block this time; I was just being lazy. Haha. But I got over it in a big way cause this chapter is the longest I've ever written! The Lizzie/Edwin scene wasn't supposed to be that long, but my fingers just kept on typing! **

**Enjoy and let me know what you think!**

**Disclaimer: To the best of my knowledge I do not own LWD, ACTs, Friends, or anything else that doesn't seem like I should own.**

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_KnockKnock_

"_Who is it?"_

"Who do you think nimrod!" Lizzie exclaimed.

"I thought you were supposed to come by at 10!" Edwin called from the other side of the door.

She heard a rush of activity, followed by a small bang and Edwin whispering a pained "Crap."

"Ed are you ok?"

"Yeah just give me a second!"

A moment later he flung open his door, a guilty expression covering his face as he stepped aside to let her in and closed the door behind her.

"What were you just doing?"

"Nothing!" Edwin said quickly, his eyes widening when his voice cracked. He cleared his throat nervously and sat down on his bed.

"Yeah and I'm the abominable snow-woman. What are you hiding?" Lizzie questioned, crossing her arms as she walked around his room, looking for anything that was out of place. Well more out of place then usual. Derek was quickly becoming the tidy one compared to the upkeep of the other Venturi boy's room.

He chuckled nervously, words beginning to pour out of his mouth. "Nothing I swear, I was just surprised that you were so early and then I tripped on my, um, well nothing actually, I just tripped. Been living with Casey too long. I think maybe we should start a 'I trip over my own feet on a regular basis' support group. I really feel we could make some great profit off of the cover charge for the meetings. We could even hav—_"_

"EDWIN!" Lizzie exclaimed, amused at the sight of a nervous Edwin. She couldn't help but find him adorable on a regular basis and seeing him flustered just added to his appeal.

"Ok fine I am hiding something. But I won't tell you where I hid it!" Edwin stated, shifting on his bed, his eyes jumping momentarily to his desk drawer.

Lizzie perked at his movement, her lips curling into a smirk. She doubted anyone but her would have caught his gaze shifting like that. She indulged in a staring contest with him, inching ever so slightly towards the desk every few seconds. He sensed her movement and shot off his bed, leaning back and spreading his arms across the desk to prevent her from opening the drawer. She tried desperately to pry his hands from the tight grip they had on the sides of his desk, but his recent interest in physical fitness had made her days of overpowering him a distant memory. They were both laughing from their mini-wrestling match as she made one last desperate attempt to push him away from the desk by shoving her entire body against his. Finally accepting that this was one battle she would not win (at least for the moment), she sighed and sat down on his bed.

"Fine. You get to keep your little secret for now Venturi, but be aware that I'll be watching your ass."

A huge grin broke on his face as he eyed her. "Watching my ass, eh? Well it has become quite the phenomenon in the last few months with the girls at school." He turned around, moving to retrieve the binder hidden in the false back of his desk. "I've been told it could win contests."

"What 'The things that gross out Lizzie' contest?" she scoffed as her head tilted subconsciously to check him out, his jeans pulled snuggly against him with his reach.

"Got it!" Edwin exclaimed triumphantly, straightening up. "And you know I'm hot."

Lizzie realized that she was staring just in time to look away before he turned to face her. She rolled her eyes at him as he moved to sit next to her and opened the binder across both of their laps.

"Let's just get to the research, okay Mr. Arrogant?" She said playfully. "Seriously how did I miss you turning into a less mean version of Derek?"

He smiled at her, choosing to ignore her comment. "Okay so in the 'Times They've Been Suspiciously Nice to Each Other' section we've got Casey planning Derek's surprise party last year, Casey staying up all night helping Derek study for the ACTs, Derek got that guy that wouldn't leave Casey alone after she refused to go out with him to move to the states," Edwin looked up pointedly at Lizzie, his eyebrows raising in approval. "And may I say on a personal note: That was hilarious. Then we've got Derek coming back to bring Casey to Prom, Derek helping Casey with the high school summer camp 2 years ago—"

"Not to mention the hula hoop moment they shared."

"—Of course. Information thanks to agent Marti. And that would bring us to our incredibly long list of T-T-L-A-E-O-I."

"'Times They've Look At Each Other Interestingly'." Lizzie reached over, taking the binder from Edwin as he stood up to pace the room. "But if we go over all that right now we'll be here all night. So next section."

"Right you know I'm slightly offended that you're so eager to get away from me."

"I love our 'us' time," Lizzie stated, causing Edwin to smile at her over his shoulder, "but your room is starting to smell worse than your feet after bowling. Remind me again why we stopped meeting in the games closet?"

"It could no longer contain my muscles." He said flexing from where he was standing at the end of his bed. Upon noticing Lizzie staring blankly at him he frowned. "No? That wasn't the reason?"

"No." She replied, shaking her head as she reached over to pat the muscle in question gently. She was silent for a moment as she looked over their data. "You know I've noticed that the nice things they do for each other have gotten fewer and far between."

"Yeah I noticed that too. But three days ago I over heard him say something to her (something that I don't care to repeat) that may explain why," Edwin said, reaching out his hand as he sat back down next to her.

"What?" Lizzie asked as she handed him the pen off of his night table.

Edwin scribbled something down under the 'Newest Developments' section and pushed the binder back into Lizzie's hands for her to read. When she finished she looked up at him with wide eyes, her mouth hanging open in shock. "No way!"

"Yes way. The inappropriate sexual comments have begun. I think he needs to get laid or something cause I've heard at least three more comments of the sort since I heard that first one."

"Let me get this straight," She said trying desperately to keep herself from hitting him for keeping this from her. "You think that Casey and Derek's lack of kind gestures in the last few months has been the result of his borderline sexual harassment of my sister?!"

"Ah ah ah!" Edwin stated gleefully, holding up one finger in a 'just one minute' way. "Not sexual harassment if she gets off on—erm… I mean _enjoys_ it. Sorry wrong choice of words… I mean, maybe wrong choice of words. Who knows she might get off on it but that's not really something I'd want to find—"

"Edwin! Get to the point!"

"Right. Well to Derek's face she was all angry, but once she turned around I could tell she was more angry with herself for enjoying the comment then she was with him for saying it."

"Ew, are you serious?!"

"Yep."

"Oh God." She said her face falling into her hands. "I was really hoping my sister wasn't actually starting to like Derek."

"Psh! You were still holding out on that?"

"No." Lizzie replied, bringing her head up to look at Edwin in discontent. "I just like lying to myself."

He chuckled, shaking his head as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Alright so let's get to the present time. The last time we wrote in here was… two weeks ago. Right after Derek cut the bottom 4 inches off of more than half of Casey shirts."

She snorted. "He's unbelievable. You'd think by now he'd come up with pranks that didn't cost him money. What was her reaction again?"

"Let's see…" He said scanning the page, his finger running along the paper. "Ah. Here it is."

Lizzie took the opportunity to lean in close to Edwin, the faint scent of his cologne almost causing her to lose her concentration. She took a deep breath and read in monotone what Casey had said a few weeks ago. "'You stupid son of a bitch, those were expensive. Not to mention the fact that you're only hurting yourself… blah blah blah I'll have to wear the cut off shirts until _you _buy me new ones… blah blah blah, You to my puke inducing middrift.' And Casey used finger quotes over puke inducing, and her face more than indicated that she's figured out that Derek definitely doesn't find her gross in any form of the word. Which due to her—," Lizzie frowned, the disgusted look returning to her face, "_reaction _to Derek's comments, she definitely knows."

"Which really, she should have figured out by his 'Ew' reaction to her Babe Raider costume that she wore right after you guys moved in, that he thinks she's hot. I mean even the milk could tell he thought she looked hot. Not to mention he was tugging his shirt down over his pants for the rest of the morning."

He leaned back on his elbows on his bed, looking up at Lizzie who's face was still contorted in disgust.

"That's sick, Edwin. I really don't want to hear about Derek's happy 'reactions' to my sister's scantily clad form."

He laughed, nudging her leg with his. "Hey we men are visual creatures. Can't help but have a physical reaction to certain… stimulation." Edwin eyes roamed up and down her body noticeably, a small smirk on his lips.

Lizzie bit her lip turning to face the wall before letting her face scrunch in embarrassment (and mild excitement) at his obvious attempt to check her out. She exhaling silently before glancing back at him and looking over at the binder. "Um, ok… so then, despite what Casey said about wearing her ruined shirts, she ended up stealing some of his and wearing those for a few days."

Edwin pushed himself into a sitting position, leaning over her shoulder to read. "Much to his pleasure. He's worn that polo with the penguin on it three times since she gave it back to him. And as far as I know he hasn't washed it."

She laughed, turning to look at him. "I don't know whether to find that completely sweet or totally sour."

"Sweet and sour. Ha! Play on words. Cute."

"Thanks. So nothing besides that has really happened until their fight tonight, resulting in my mom and George grounding them—"

"And our immanent misery," Edwin pointed out under his breath.

"—followed by a silent retreat of them into their respective rooms."

"Ok so they were fighting about a guy that Casey thinks Derek talked out of liking her. So this one gets marked under the 'T-I-E-O-L-L' section."

"Too Involved in Each Other's Love Lives."

"Yeah I really think we should come up with a shorter name for that."

"Didn't we have this discussion after the 'They Know Way too Much About Each Other to Really and Truly Not Care' category was created?"

He sighed, a far off look in his eyes as he smiled and said, "Ah good old T-K-W-M-A-E-O-R-T-N-C."

Lizzie laughed, nudging his shoulder with hers. "You're too adorable."

Edwin's head shot up, his gaze meeting hers as she froze, realizing that she hadn't kept that thought to herself. She suddenly felt very aware of just how close they were sitting. She could feel the warmth of his thigh against hers and his arm which had ended up practically wrapped around her back, his hand resting next to the hip farthest from him. There was a lock of her hair resting on his shoulder, and she could feel his breath against her neck.

Lizzie shot up off of his bed, the binder falling, papers flying out across the floor. Edwin moved to help her gather the papers before straightening up and looking at her.

"You okay Liz?" He asked looking at her suspiciously.

"Uh yeah. Completely fine. Butt cramp," She explained calmly, heading towards the door. "I should get going anyways, I still have some homework to finish before school tomorrow."

"Okay…" He stated, his forehead scrunched in confusion. "We'll continue this later then?"

"Of course. Night." She reached for his door handle, attempting to turn it and open the door.

"It's locked Liz. Like always?" Edwin called to her, now laughing at the fumbling Lizzie.

She laughed at herself, slapping a hand to her forehead, as she turned the lock, then the handle with the other.

"Good night Ed."

"Night Lizzie," He replied sounding quite amused.

Once she was behind the closed attic door and on her way down the stairs, she shook her head at her behavior, muttering to herself about how if she was a guy she'd be needing a cold shower.

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------**

"Hey Connor," Casey said tentatively as she approached him at his locker the next day.

"Casey!" He replied turning around to look at her, a relieved sigh escaping his lips. "I thought after yesterday you were gonna avoid me for as long as possible."

"You just get right to the point don't you?"

"Sorry but you ran away yesterday before I could explain—"

"That's why I wanted to talk to you," She interrupted, standing up straight and using her best official voice. "At first I thought I had discovered why you said no, but that theory was quickly put to bed. Although I am still not positive that that original reason isn't still the reason, I would like to be informed as to why you turned down a date with me. I was almost positive that you liked me."

"I do like you. Just not as more than a science partner. I mean you're great and I really enjoy spending time with you at school, but you're, um… not exactly my type."

Casey felt offended and left it show, as she stood up straighter and scoffed. "Your type. What's that supposed to mean? Am I not blond enough? My skirt too long? Am I too smart?"

He shook his head at her, reaching to touch her arm. "No Casey, listen I—"

"No you listen, buster!" Casey said stepping closer to him and moving to poke his shoulder. "I will not change into some ditz just to appease your selfish little desir—"

"Casey, you're not my type, cause you're a girl!" He exclaimed looking at her expectantly.

"What are you…Oh," Casey said, her eyebrows raising in realization. "So that means you're…"

"Gay. Yes."

"Oh. Well then… ha. Aren't I just a rainbow of embarrassed colors!"

Conner smiled, laughing lightly at her choice of words.

"Sorry I yelled at you," She stated sheepishly, taking a step back as her face scrunched apologetically.

"Don't worry about it, Casey. It's no big deal."

"No I really shouldn't have yelled. I never yell. Well unless Derek's around. And I pretty much yelled at you _because_ of Derek."

"What do you mean?"

"Well Emily could have sworn that you liked me and then seeing you talk to Derek yesterday, I thought maybe you let him scare you into not going out with me."

"Derek doesn't scare me!" He blurted out, before catching himself.

"Okay." Casey stated suspiciously, taken aback at his blunt comment. "But he makes you nervous."

Connor chuckled nervously, running a hand through his hair. "Umm…"

"Oh my gosh! Oh my—Connor do you like—_"_

He shushed her, his eyes widening as he looked around the halls.

"But you do don't you?" She dropped her voice to a whisper. "You like Derek?!"

Connor groaned hitting the back of his head against his locker. "Yes." He kept his eyes closed for a moment before straightening himself up, looking at her sheepishly.

Casey wasn't sure of what to say, her mouth opening and closing in shock at her attempts to speak.

"Look it's a well known fact that I'm gay, but I really don't want anybody to know about this whole Derek thing. And since you guys are—"

"I won't say anything to him. I promise." Casey managed to say, her voice sounding strained. She couldn't figure out why finding out about Connor's crush caused the familiar stabbing in her heart. She shook her head, reminding herself that Derek wasn't gay, the thought only slightly ebbing the clenching in her chest.

Connor looked at her with concern, placing a hand on her shoulder after she had been silent for an awkward amount of time. "Hey are you ok?"

She shook her head again in an attempt to clear the fog that had made it's way into her thoughts.

"Yeah," She stated calmly, forcing a smiling. "It's just um, kinda weird! I'm sorry I'm just so… shocked… about all of it. I had no idea you where gay. That kinda seems like something Emily would know."

"I'm surprised she doesn't. I mean I don't just go around, you know, passing out fliers announcing my sexual preference, but it's not like I hide it."

"I guess I'll have to update her. She's gonna be pretty upset that she didn't know. Maybe I'll wait and tell her over the phone. Emily hits when she's upset and bodily harm does not sound appealing right now."

Connor smiled, looking at her sympathetically. "Again, I'm sorry—"

"Don't worry about it. And I guess, well…," Casey started patting him on the arm, "Congrats on liking guys!"

"Haha. Thanks. But you should know, if I wasn't gay, I would totally be all over—"The bell rang cutting him off and causing them both to jump slightly. "Well kids that's all the time we have today for Awkward Conversations 101!"

Casey laughed genuinely, shaking her head. "You're a dork."

"Well then I guess you have a thing for dorks, huh?" Her face scrunched in distaste. "What too soon for jokes?"

"A little bit. I'll see you tomorrow Connor."

"Bye Casey." He replied with a laugh as he turned to head to class.

She watched him go, sighing as she thought about how true the statement 'All the good ones are gay or taken' was.

"What him rejecting you once wasn't enough?" A voice called from behind her. "I thought I threw enough salt in that wound yesterday."

"_Derek_!" Casey warned, her lips perching in anger as she turned around to face him.

"Miss me?" He stage whispered, leaning into her with a smirk on his face.

"You're an asshole." She spat, bumping his shoulder as she walked past him.

Derek watched her walk away for a moment before jogging to fall into step beside her. "So he told you he's into men, huh?"

"You knew?!" She exclaimed, looking at him incredulously. "Why am not surprised you didn't find it in you to share that little fact with me?"

"And miss out on you humiliating yourself?" He gasped, putting his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into him. "Never!"

"Did you miss the day in kindergarten where they taught you how to be compassionate?'

"Casey asked out a gay guy!" He stated matter-of-factly, ignoring her question. "Now that's a story you tell the grandchildren. You know, if you ever figure out how trick a guy into being able to handle your _sass_."

With the last word he moved to spank her, but she caught his wrist in her in her hand. Casey stopped walking, turning to stare daggers at Derek as he smirked back at her. Glancing around the now empty hallway, he moved his other hand down and slapped her butt lightly. She used her hold on his wrist to push him into the lockers behind them violently.

"Woah!" He exclaimed, his smirk slipping momentarily as he winced in pain. "You've gotten feisty over the years haven't you?"

She stepped forward, her body mere inches from his, the pure anger in her eyes making Derek realize he had gone too far. Before he know what he was doing, his hand moved instinctively to brush her hair out of her face. Casey's eyes drifted closed as his hand touched her cheek, her anger dissolving. She let out an inaudible gasp at the memory of warm hands caressing her arms, and soft lips brushing against hers. She took a deep breath, letting herself relish in the memories for a moment before she remembered where she was. Her eyes shot open to see Derek staring at her softly, his own eyes searching her face.

"Damn it!" She growled out angrily, pushing his hand away as she stepped back. "Don't touch me."

He straightened himself up, his gentle features turning rough as the smirk returned to his face. "Now there's something you probably never say. You'd have to have a guy actually interested enough to want to touch you. Wonder how many other guys were so turned off at the thought of dating you that they yanked open the closet door faster than you can say triangle."

Casey hands curled into fists at her sides, her jaw clenching in anger. "I. Hate. You."

"Yeah love you to, _sis_." Derek replied condescendingly, rubbing his neck as he brushed past her.

Casey watched him go, her face flushed with anger. She gave one last growl of frustration before turning to walk in the opposite direction of where she had originally been headed.

**--------------------------------------------------------------------**

The door to Paul's office hit the wall as Casey threw open it open, causing the man to jump in surprise, thus spilling his coffee all over his shirt. He jumped up pulling the now hot fabric from his skin as she slammed the door and crossed her arms angrily.

"Well?" She asked, staring at him expectantly. "Aren't you going to ask me what's wrong?"

"Oh don't worry about me. I'll be fine." Paul stated with a wave of his hand. "I only spilled scalding hot coffee all over the sweater my wife knit for me." He pulled his sweater off, looking down in relief that his button down shirt remained mostly unstained.

"It's Derek!" She exclaimed beginning to pace. "He's such a jerk! He's just an insufferable, complete and total…"

He tuned her out for the moment, knowing that the point of her frustration with her stepbrother wouldn't be coming out until after a good five minutes of generic ranting.

"…mallet! His brain is already smaller than a baby ant's, why not…"

He squeezed the coffee out of his sweater into the trash can, before hanging it up on the side of a bookcase to dry.

"…I mean even _guys _have crushes on him! I don't get it! He's so…"

He picked his mug up from the ground, placing the pieces into the trash can, before he sat back down, completely tuning himself into what she was saying.

"…pig with a copper pan! You know what I mean Paul?" Casey looked at him as though she wanted an answer. He opened his mouth to respond, but she continued with her rant. "I need to figure out a way to shut him up for good. Or at least to get back at him. But what could I use to cause the onset of Derek's downfall?"

"Are you sure it's a good idea to be looking for a way to intentionally hurt Derek?"

"What else am I supposed to do? Everything else I try to get him to leave me alone doesn't work!" She exclaimed, plopping down in the chair closest to her. "I try ignoring him, he uses pranks to _make_ me pay attention to him. I pretend not to care all the while throwing witty comments his way, he does something even more offensive. And God knows blunt force didn't work!"

"You used blunt force? You'd didn't try and whack him with a copper pan, did you? Cause I never thought you'd _actually_ try and kill him. That'd be something I would have to report."

"What does Derek enjoy that I can use to knock him off his high horse?" She put her hand to her chin, staring at the wall pensively.

_Should I use my powers of invisibility to fight crime or fort evil? _Paul thought, laughing inwardly at his ability to slip a 'Friends' quote into any situation.

"…Oh I know! Hockey! I could— No that won't work…" She stood up and began pacing, mumbling to herself. Paul watched her walk back and forth across his office, putting a smile on his face every time she glanced at him. She suddenly paused, her eyes lighting up as though there actually was an idea light bulb over her head.

"I got it!" She stated happily. "Oh it's so painfully simple. How could I not have though of this first." She turned to face Paul, her face filled with devious excitement. "They are his lifeline. The reason he exists… and the future bain of his existence."

Paul folded his hands on his desk, waiting patiently for her to speak again.

"Paul?!" Casey's eyebrow furrowed in confusion as she waved her hand in front of his face. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Yes. I just wasn't aware that I was allowed to speak. I can never tell which kind of day it's going to be."

"Paul I always want to know what you think. That's why I come here; To complain about Derek and then have you tell me what I don't want to hear, but should probably listen to anyways."

"Like how I think plotting to destroy Derek's spirit is a bad idea and we should figure out another way to help you work through the currant situation in which you find yourself?"

"Yeah like that!" Casey stated cheerily. "Except you won't convince me to back down on this one."

"I won't?"

"No." She bit her lip, ideas running through her mind. "I know his greatest weakness. The secret to making him _cower_ in the corner in self loathing."

He smiled nervously, rolling his hands to motion for her to continue.

"The female sex." Casey smiled evilly, her eyes narrowing in self appreciation. "I'm going to get girls to reject him, girls to go on miserable dates with him, and best of all, I'm going to get a girl to Break. His. Heart."

Paul opened his mouth, a disapproving look on his face. "Casey, I don't think that's a good—"

"Oh no Paul," Casey stated, her voice eerily calm. "This is one thing you cannot talk me out of. Derek—", she slammed her hands down on his desk violently, "Is _so_ going _**down**_."

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**The plot bunny has now been planted in Casey brain! In the next chapter she starts to put her plan into action. Stay tuned!**


	4. Chapter 3: Attaining a Partner in Crime

26/01/2008 04:05:00

**Disclaimer: I, do not own LWD, John Tucker Must Die, or anything else that I don't own. But I wish I did own the rights to LWD cause then Youtube wouldn't be suspending the accounts of our friends in Canada who provide us with the new LWD episodes that stupid Disney doesn't give us. GRR!!!**

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"…Then the light bulb suddenly went off and I realized; girls! Derek's greatest weakness is girls. So now I'm going to do everything from scaring girls away from him, to basically 'hiring' a girl to date him, get him to fall for her, and then dump him." Casey took a break from telling Emily about her earlier epiphany to take a sip of water. "I was kinda hoping for your help. Maybe you could be a girl that acts on the inside, pretending you like him again, maybe? So what do you think?" She finished in an excited rush staring expectantly at her best friend.

"Huh," Emily replied casually, clicking her tongue in thought. She opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again when she realized she couldn't think of anything. She rested her chin in her hand, staring blankly around the mall food court.

"Uh, Em?" Casey said, her eyes widening and her lips perching in the way that let Emily know she was really confident in herself and her plan.

She lifted her head, sitting up straight as she looked at Casey. "So you're thinking of executing some sort of… 'Derek Venturi Must Die' type of scenario here, right?"

"Exactly!" Casey replied, nearly squealing with excitement, before rushing on. "Well— exactly minus the eventual crumbling of the plan and the lesbian kiss added in for the guys whose girlfriends dragged them to see the movie."

"Awesome!" Emily exclaimed, ignoring the last part of Casey's answer as she smiled widely at her. "I want absolutely no part of it!" She stood up grabbing her tray of garbage and her bags and walked to the trash bin. Casey looked after her, momentarily shocked into immobility before she too grabbed her tray and bags and stood up.

"Oh come on Em!" she exclaimed, throwing away her garbage and following behind Emily as she made her way out of the food court. "You can't tell me that after all those years of Derek purposely ignoring you, that you don't want even a teeny, tiny bit of revenge."

Emily looked over at her as they strolled casually through the mall. "Okay yeah a teeny… _tiny_ part of me _might _want a little… payback, but an even bigger part of me, the part that no longer crushes on and is now good friends with Derek despite his personality flaws, thinks that what you're planning is way over the top. I'm actually really surprised that you're so happy-go-lucky about it. Normally you would be scolding yourself right about now for being so cruel."

"Oh come on Em!" Casey repeated, this time with a tone of disbelief. "After everything Derek's put me through in the last two and a ha— Two. Two years, you don't think I want a little revenge?"

"Revenge is ok. For revenge I could jump on board. But this— this is just… _sadistic_. You of all people should know that despite what he wants people to believe, he does have a heart. A big heart that I don't wish to help you break, thank you very much."

"What do you mean I of all people should know?"

"You live with him," Emily stated as if that made it completely obvious. "You see what he's like with Marti, and he's even done incredibly sweet things for you on more than one occasion."

Casey scoffed, crossing her arms as she glanced into a storefront. "Not lately."

"Yeah I'll admit he has gotten to be quite the jackass to you in the last few months. Did something happen between you two that you never told me about?"

"If only you knew," Casey muttered under her breath before speaking to Emily. "I have no idea. Wanna go see a movie?"

"Sure," Emily replied not skipping a beat as they walked towards the theater. "But back to your evil plan to destroy— Derek! What are you doing here?"

Derek glanced up at Emily's voice saying his name. The generic looking blonde he was sitting beside, shot Emily a look of annoyance for taking his attention off of her. Derek looked thrown off guard for a moment, but after glancing at Casey, he threw his arm around the girl's shoulders and smiled, pulling her into him.

"I'm just going to see a movie with Claire here," He said gesturing towards the girl. "What are you doing here all by yourself?"

"So this is the Claire you've been talking about!" Casey replied cheerfully, ignoring Derek's verbal bitch slap.

"You've been talking about me?" Claire squealed, gazing happily at him as she placed her hand on his thigh.

Casey eyes flashed with anger but she caught herself and matched them to her devious smirk. Derek smiled tentatively at the girl before shooting Casey a questioning look, since he, for once, hadn't mentioned this particular girl to her.

"Oh yeah he's been talking about you for like, a week," Casey giggled, with a casual wave of her hand. "But Der, she looks nothing like I would have pictured from your description."

Emily's already raised eyebrows, were joined by her ever widening eyes in apprehension as she glanced between the three people before her.

"Casey, what are you—" Derek started, sounding extremely confused.

"Well she _is_ blonde like you said, but she's no where near as fat or ugly."

Casey cringed the second she saw Claire's jaw drop in shock and hurt. She hadn't really thought through the 'Drive girls away from Derek' part of her plan past how it would effect him. The fact that she would be hurting innocent people's feelings hadn't crossed her mind until she saw Claire's expression. Casey decided right then and there that she would concentrate more on how to break Derek without messing with other people's feelings.

"You bastard!" Claire screeched once she snapped out of her shocked trance. She slapped Derek across the cheek before standing up, flipping her hair angrily.

Emily and Casey glanced after Claire as she brushed past them before turning back to Derek. They both tried desperately to keep a straight face at his shocked expression, but a few stray giggles make there way out anyway.

"Casey, what the hell did you do that for?!" Derek growled after a moment, their laughing halting once they felt the anger pouring off of him. He brought his hand to his cheek, touching it tentatively as he moved his jaw in discomfort.

"Just cause I could," Casey stated, shrugging as she smirked at him.

"Now I wish I _had_ forced Connor into messing with you."

Casey's smug demeanor changed to one of rage as she stepped towards him. "And just what does _that_ mean?"

Emily chuckled nervously, glancing back and forth between the seething step-siblings.

He smirked, standing up so that he was hovering over Casey. "I thought it'd be funny to have him pretend to be straight and date you, only to tell you a few weeks later that it was your repulsive body that made him realize he preferred dick," Derek stated, scoffing as he crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

Casey jaw dropped in shock and disgust as she took a step back from him. "You— you're…"

"He_ apparently_ doesn't have a good sense of humor cause he said it was 'too mean'," he finished mockingly using finger quotes.

"That's horrible, Derek," Emily said, shaking her head. "Even for you."

"Please. That's nothing. But could one of you tell me what the point of him being in love with me is if he won't even do me a simple favor?!"

"I can't believe I ever— I— you— you're…" Casey stuttered, not finishing her thought before turning and stomping off. Emily followed her, shooting Derek a disappointed glance over her shoulder.

Once Casey had walked a good distance away, she turned around, finally finding the conclusion to her sentence. "…_**You miscreant!**_"

She shared an angry glare with him from across the balcony before she looked around, her eyes widening in shock at herself. She smiled nervously when she noticed people were staring at her, and she turned and continued stomping out of the mall. Emily struggled to keep up with her through the parking lot, both of them silent as they walked. Once she had put the car in drive and pulled onto the street, Emily spoke up.

"I'm in," she said, her voice so quiet Casey wasn't sure if she had imagined it.

"What did you say?"

"I said I'm in. I don't know if it was left over from my fangirl days or what, but I think I've had my Derek colored glasses on. I wasn't paying attention to just how cruel he's gotten with you," Emily stated glancing at Casey.

"You'll help me?" Casey asked with disbelief.

"I still won't be a girl that you use to bring him down, but I will help you with devising plans and ruining things for him with his dates. But I'm on the down low. I don't want him to know. I'm still his friend. Despite the fact that he's got a first class ticket on a plane headed towards CompleteBastardville."

Casey sighed in relief, smiling happily at her best friend. "Thank you so much Em! I promise you won't regret it!"

"Oh I'm sure I _will,_" Emily muttered, propping her elbow on the window sill and dropping her head into her hand.

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**I know it's a short chapter, but I needed to bring Emily into Casey's 'plan'. Plus the next part didn't really flow with this one. And I haven't finished it yet and I was dying to post more.**

**Credit to **_**Jaden Ink**_** for inspiring the 'Derek Venturi Must Die****' line of Emily's. It wouldn't have been there without you mentioning it.**


	5. Chapter 4:Masks Used for Lack of Courage

08/02/2008 22:52:00

**Flashbacks are in **_**italics.**_

**Disclaimer: Just keep reading, just keep reading, but just remember that I do not own Finding Nemo or LWD.**

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"Stop it!" Lizzie exclaimed, trying to sound as menacing as she could. Edwin poked her side for the fourth time, this time lingering to tickle her.

"Stop!" she shouted again, trying and failing to hide her laughter.

Edwin scooted closer to her on the couch, and bumped her knee with his. "I didn't do anything," he stated innocently.

Lizzie glared at him, bumping his knee back and pointing to the TV. "Just watch the movie please."

"Fine," he groaned, turning his attention back to the movie.

After 5 minutes, Edwin smiled and turned to shake her shoulders. "This has got to stop!"

"What now?!" Lizzie cried throwing her arms up in frustration.

"We've been sitting here for the last forty-five minutes, the greatest movie of all time playing on the TV screen and nether of us has watched for longer than five minutes at a time."

"Okay, first of all, Finding Nemo is far from the greatest movie of all time," she stated after holding up one finger. She held up a second finger and then poked him in the arm. "And two, maybe you haven't been watching the screen for longer than five minutes at a time but I have."

"Uh huh. Sure," Edwin said sarcastically, smirking at her. He paused his eyes locked with hers. "How many times have I scratched my ear in the last five minutes?"

Lizzie gave him an incredulous look, her eyebrow rising in curiosity. "How would I know?"

He glared at her, holding his tickling hand up and wiggling his fingers in her face

"Edwin, don't! I really wasn't looking."

He dove in to tickle her stomach, pushing her back against the couch so she was pinned under him. She laughed loudly, trying desperately to push him away. Suddenly remembering how ticklish he was, she struck back, reaching for the spot on his lower back. He was taken off guard and she easily pushed him onto the floor.

She gasped, covering her mouth with her hand as she looked down at him. "Are you okay?"

He groaned in response, his body frozen in a grimace. Then he smirked and reached up pulling her down with him and holding her arms to her sides.

"Ah! Ed-winnn!"

"How many times did I scratch my ear?"

"Fine!" She gasped out, making another desperate attempt to get free, before she relaxed and narrowed her eyes at him. "Six."

"That's my girl!" Edwin said, releasing her arms and moving to sit up. "Now watch the movie."

Lizzie rolled her eyes, smiling at him from under her lashes as he shook his head at her. They stayed on the floor, leaning their backs onto the couch next to each other.

"Hey Lizz— oomph!" Edwin groaned, holding a hand to his middle after being cut off by a playful punch in the stomach.

"Just watch the movie, Ed."

He rolled his eyes and threw his arm over the couch behind her. After a few uneventful minutes of watching the movie, Lizzie felt a gentle pull on her hair, and looked over at Edwin. His eyes remained glued on the screen, but she could detect a slight smile pulling at his lips. She was going to tell him to stop, but his finger twirling in her hair was actually quite relaxing. She threw him another glance before she rolled her eyes again and leaned her head on his shoulder.

Just as Nemo was reunited with Marlin, the front door banged open, causing them both to jump. Casey slammed the door shut, grumbling under her breath as she violently threw her shopping bags to the floor. Edwin and Lizzie exchanged a knowing look before turning their attention to Casey as she flopped down onto Derek chair. She gave a frustrated sigh, crossing her arms as she sat stiffly.

"My my Casey, whatever seems to be the problem?" Edwin asked.

"Derek's a moron," She spat.

"Casey's complaining about Derek? I'm shocked," Lizzie deadpanned, turning her attention back to the movie.

"Casey?!" Nora called, coming in from the kitchen.

"Hey Mom."

"Don't you 'Hey Mom' me young lady," Nora replied, standing in front of Casey. "Where were you?"

"The mall with Emily," she replied, looking up at her mother in confusion. "I thought you said last week that it was fine?"

"That was before you were grounded."

"Oh my gosh!" Casey replied slapping herself on the forehead. "I totally forgot. Derek distracted me— again. I'm sorry, Mom."

Nora shook her head, looking at her eldest daughter in disapproval. "The whole reason behind you being in trouble in the first place is because of Derek, so I really don't buy that excuse. Go to your room Casey."

Casey gasped incredulously, clearly not used to not being trusted. "But Mom—"

She was cut off by the door swinging open and slamming closed. Derek flung his leather jacket on the floor before he noticed 4 pairs of eyes staring at him.

"With how many violent entrances we have in this house, you'd think the door would have fallen of the hinges by now," Edwin muttered to Lizzie out of the corner of his mouth.

"What?" Derek said, raising his eyebrow at the glare Nora was giving him.

"Did you forget something?" She asked sternly.

"Cell phone," Derek started patting himself down, pretending to check his pockets. "Keys, wallet, List of pranks to pull on Casey… nope I've got everything."

"We're grounded you reject!" Casey growled, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Why, Spacey! I didn't see you there," Derek exclaimed, sitting on the arm of his chair and grinning at her. "Get out of my chair."

Casey rolled her eyes and pushed him off the arm, before standing up and starting up the stairs.

"Derek, go to your room," Nora stated.

"Casey's the one who pushed me!" he griped, getting up off the floor.

Nora sighed rubbing her forehead tiredly. "I'm sending you to your room for leaving the house while you're grounded."

"I was at a hockey meeting," he said, grabbing the remote from Lizzie's hand and relaxing into his chair. "Coach said I couldn't miss it."

Casey froze halfway up the stairs her jaw dropping in disbelief. She knew she shouldn't have been shocked by Derek's lie but she was. She whirled around narrowing her eyes at the back of his head.

"Ok you're fine then," Nora sighed as walked to the dining room table and sat down. "But next time please call me."

"Will do," He stated smirking as he looked over at Casey. She smiled back, running her tongue along her teeth mischievously, keeping her eyes glued to his as she spoke.

"Hey mom?" she said, her voice carrying a sugary sweet tone.

"Yeah sweetie?" Nora replied, looking up at her daughter.

"Emily and I saw Derek at the mall this afternoon. So unless his hockey meeting involved sticking his tongue down some random blonde's throat— I'm pretty sure he's lying."

"You bitch," Derek mouthed to her, his eye narrowing at her.

"**Derek**!" Nora exclaimed, having missed his mouthed words to Casey, but still glaring at him just the same. "Go to your room!"

"Yeah ok Nora," he replied sarcastically, chuckling as he turned back to the TV.

"Derek Patrick Venturi!" Nora shouted, causing all people in the room to look at her with wide eyes. "Just because your father is not here right now does not mean you get to disrespect me. **Now go to your room**!"

Derek shot out of his chair and ran up the stairs, pushing Casey up ahead of him. Lizzie and Nora stared after them as Edwin rolled on the floor, holding his side from the cramps his laughter was causing. Nora turned her glare onto him and he shut up immediately, his eyes going wide in fright as he sat up. Lizzie had to suppress a giggle at Edwin's expression, and she only burst out laughing when Nora left the room, mumbling about having a headache and taking a nap.

"Whoa," Edwin breathed.

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Once they were out of sight upstairs, Derek gently pushed Casey against the wall, his body pining her to it, his hands pressed against the wall on either side of her head. He glared at her bitterly as she smiled up at him, looking completely unaffected by his proximity.

"You need something?" she asked sweetly, her eyes wide and innocent.

"What the hell is the matter with you?! The way you've been acting lately, the stuff you've been pulling, it's—it's not you."

"Being body snatched is something you'd think I'd recall, and since I, well, _don't_, I'm guessing this me." She snipped, moving to cross her arms, but settling for putting her hands on her hips when she realized that his body pressed against hers was preventing it.

Derek's eyes searched her face, the anger in them now mixed with something unidentifiable.

"No. It's not you. It's me. You're acting like me."

Casey laughed in his face, her head falling back to rest on the wall. Derek recoiled at her reaction, putting a few inches in between their bodies. Casey took the opportunity to put her hands to his chest and shove him away from her completely.

"I'm nothing like you."

"Coulda fooled me," he replied, under his breath, turning to walk to the bathroom.

"Yeah well at least I don't chicken out by running to the bathroom when things don't go exactly as planned," Casey stated angrily.

Derek scoffed at her, turning around and crossing his arms defiantly. "Okay in case you forgot, you're the one who runs away from things that freak you out— not me."

"Oh really? Then you obviously don't remember the day we '_met' _do you?" she retorted, using finger quotes as she stepped closer to him.

"Well at least I'm not a fake, like some preppies I know."

"I am not—"

"And what the hell, Casey?" He interrupted, taking a step closer to her. "Anytime I come close to bringing up anything about… _you know_… you freak out and now here you are… casually bringing it up just cause you can't think of anything else to say to me."

"I can think of plenty of things I'd like to say to you," she stated menacingly as she took another step closer to him, poking him in the chest. "I even have a few things I'd like to do to you."

"Hmm…" Derek smirke,d glancing down at her finger still on his chest, as he walked forward, backing her into the wall again. "…kinky."

"In your dreams, Venturi," Casey sing-songed, before moving her lips to whisper in his ear. "In case you didn't notice from the Claire incident this afternoon; It's game on, and I'm gonna win." She pulled back to look into his face, smirking at him before pushing past to open her door.

"You're getting to be quite the tease,McDonald. But here's a word of advice," he stated moving close to whisper against her lips. "You might want to try it on someone that actually cares." Derek pulled back, smirking at Casey's surprised and flustered face. "I. Always. Win."

He winked at her, backing up into his room and slamming the door behind him. He leaned against it waiting to hear her door slam before the smirk slid of his face. His head fell back against the door and he reached up to rub his hands over his face in frustration. He took a deep breath and moved to lay on his bed.

Derek couldn't believe that she mentioned the day they _'met'. _Especially after the incident at the wedding and her constant avoidance of the subject ever since. He hated remembering the day their parents told them they were getting married. As if his father remarrying wasn't bad enough, it also happened to be the day he met the people that would be his new step family. Well, met two of them anyway.

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"_I really think you'll like her Derek. Edwin and Lizzie get along perfectly and Marti liked both Lizzie and Nora," George said, smiling at a sullen Derek. "I haven't meet Casey yet but I'm assuming she'll be just as likeable as her mom and sister."_

_At the sound of her name, Derek's heart began to pound in surprise and longing. Of course his almost stepsister, a girl he'd probably see everyday, would bare the same name as—as… He couldn't even let himself finish the thought. He shook his head, inwardly laughing bitterly at how much his life sucked._

"_Casey's the name of Nora's other daughter?" _

"_Haven't I said her name before?" George asked, looking at Derek pointedly._

_Derek shook his head, looking back down at the spoon he was rolling around between his fingers. "I only knew them as Nora's girls."_

_George shrugged, glancing around the restaurant again._

"_They're really cool people, D," Edwin said, resting his crossed arms on the table. "Give 'em a chance."_

_Derek sighed, rubbing his forehead before sitting up straight, and looking at his sister. "You like 'em too, Smarti?"_

_Marti shook her head vigorously. "But only on days when Daphne isn't around, cause she hates them."_

_Edwin and Derek exchanged a knowing glance, and suppressed their laughter at the knowledge that Daphne's thoughts were commonly known as Marti's true feelings._

_George opened his mouth to scold her, but the smile that broke out on his lips interrupted him. He straightened his tie, ran his hands through his hair and stood up. "Here they are."_

_Derek turned to look behind him as an attractive, athletic looking woman glided towards them, an equally athletic looking younger girl at her side. He glanced back at his Dad and rolled his eyes at the dopey look on his face. _

_When Derek stood up he noticed for the first time the other woman following behind Nora. He froze as his eyes locked onto an all too familiar looking brunette who's body language showed all signs that she was just as shocked to see him as he was to see her._

_Suddenly he could feel nothing but the numbing cold running through his blood stream and the vibrations of his beating heart causing his ears to tingle. The taste of his blood filled his throat as he bit down on his tongue, the sensation adding to his sudden nauseous ness. He realized that it had only been a little over seven hours since he last saw her, and she somehow managed to look even more breathtaking to him than she ever had before._

_He watched numbly as his Dad and Nora started the introductions, their voices mere whispers to him. It registered in the back of his mind that if nothing else he should have at least said hi, but as hard as he tried he couldn't have wiggled his finger at that moment, let alone move his hand or tongue._

"_Nice to meet you Derek," Casey stated calmly, breaking him out of his stupor as she put out her hand for him to shake, her eyes focused on his._

_Derek's look of shock turned to one of disgust as his stare alternated between her outstretched hand and her face. Casey's body was completely relaxed but her eyes were pleading with him to go along with it._

_When he had woken up this morning, he thought he would be going back to his house. The house that he shared with his Dad and Edwin and Marti. He though he would be leaving the daily heartbreak known as his ex-girlfriend. Now he was standing in a restaurant meeting his Dad's probably fiancé and her two daughters, Lizzie, a shy little tomboy, and Casey, his—_

_Oh God._

_Nausea overtook Derek and he took one last glance at Casey before pushing past her and her family. He heard his father calling his name, but he kept moving forward until he had locked himself into the bathroom. He ran to the toilet and retched, emptying the contents of his stomach._

_After he was finished he forced himself off of the ground, moving to the sink to splash water onto his face. He reached blindly to his right and grabbed a paper towel, drying his face with it. After a moment of looking into the black that was the back of his eyes, he opened them and felt rage surge through his body at the sight of his reflection looking so pathetic. He grabbed the trash bin by his feet, throwing it against the wall, the contents spilling out around the bathroom._

_He growled in frustration, violently tugging on his hair before he turned and punched the stone wall. _

"_Fuck!" He gasped out, holding his throbbing hand tenderly against his chest as he leaned back against the wall. He felt his throat tightening and he sunk down to the floor, letting his head fall back against the wall. As the pain throbbed in his knuckles, his need for a physical outlet disappeared and he let out a single chocked sob. He hugged his knees, letting his head fall forward against them as he finally let himself cry. And for the first time he could remember, he didn't care if anyone heard him._

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

After twenty minutes alone in that restaurant bathroom, he had pulled himself together and walked back to the table. Once his father had finished scolding him for his behavior, Derek put a smile on his face, introduced himself, and insulted Casey.

He shook his head to bring himself back to the present and groaned angrily at himself for letting the memories take him over.

Derek turned onto his back, tiredly looking up at the light from the setting sun playing across the ceiling. He took a deep breath and reminded himself once again of his simple promise to himself from two years ago—

_Don't ever let her get to you._

He laughed bitterly at himself. Who the hell was he kidding?

**------------------------------------------------------------------**

**So you got another hint of something from their past. I know I didn't reveal much, but I'm gonna torture you and unveil the facts slowly. **

**.:grins evilly:.**

**Oh and I've been sick with the flu all day so I'm not all with it and there are most likely a few grammatical errors. When I feel better I know my OCD will kick in and I'll need to fix everything, but until then, I am just not coherent enough to care to fix them. **


	6. Ch5 Setting the Bait & Unwanted Memories

29/02/2008 23:23:00

**I hate myself for taking this long to update. And I also hate myself for doing this: After this chapter, **story is on hiatus!** I'm SO sorry but with the way things are going right now I don't know how long it will be before I get to update again. I plan on taking some time, getting a ton of chapters written, then coming back and being able to post on a regular basis. **

**Thanks so much to everyone for all the feedback and alerts and all that jazz! It means a lot to me.**

_**Remember that flashbacks are in italics.**_

**Disclaimer: Although I do own Michael Seater, LWD, and all of it's affiliates, I do not own the story, Kat Culp, or Michella. **

**Wait. No. That's backwards.**

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"You ratted him out though, didn't you? You didn't let your mom keep believing he was at hockey practice," Emily asked, after Casey finished telling her about her mom's surge of anger at her from the previous day.

"Of course! There was no way I was gonna let him off scotch free! It's all part of my 'Destroy Derek' plan."

"So what's your next step in this 'oh so hideous and cruel' plan?"

"_Our_ next step, Em. You're in on this with me."

"Right…" Emily trailed, gulping nervously. Although she had it set in her mind that Derek's treatment of Casey needed to be rectified, she still wasn't feeling too good about what she may or may not have to do to him while being a part of Casey's planning.

"The next step is finding a girl who has zero interest in Derek to go out with him."

"Right. To make him fall for her then have her dump him. But Derek's not exactly known for falling for girls, and girls aren't known to _not_ fawn over him so how are you gonna work this?"

"Hmm," Casey breathed, contemplating what to do. She clicked her tongue and took a deep breath before speaking. "I'm not sure about that yet. The first step would probably be having a hot girl play hard to get. You know of any?"

"Hot girls who go to this school, have no past relations with and/or have zero interest in Derek sexually? You're funny."

Casey rolled her eyes in disgust, shutting her locker and leaning against it. Emily sighed looking around the hall for ideas, when her eyes suddenly fell on the new girl. _Perfect_. "Nevermind. I know." She said smiling devilishly, as she turned back to Casey. "Kat."

"As in kitty?" Casey asked, her face scrunching in deep confusion.

"No!" Emily laughed resting her hand on Casey shoulder. She pointed across the hall to a tall, thin girl with long blonde hair turning the combination at a locker. "Kat. With a K."

"Ohh! New girl. That's genius, Em!" Casey squealed, standing up straight and pushing her purse straps higher on her shoulder. "Have you met her yet?"

"No , but she's in my Physics class and from what I've gathered so far she seems pretty cool. You want me to scope her out for a few days, find out her likes, dislikes, relationship status, the lot?"

"No, that would be ridiculous," Casey stated, with a wave of her hand.

"Yeah I guess that would be a little—"

"If we wait that long Derek would have already gotten to her," Casey continued. "Let's just go ask her."

Emily stuttered incoherently, reaching after Casey who was already halfway across the hall. Her body slumped, mimicking her exhausted mind due to Casey's persistence. She sighed deeply before following her across the hall all the while praying that this wouldn't get Casey put in a mental institution.

"— name is Casey Macdonald," Emily heard her finish as she stopped beside her and across from Kat. "And this is my best friend Emily Davis."

"Hey," Emily said with a small wave.

"Hi. Kat Culp," She responded warmly, gesturing to herself as she smiled back at them. "So are you guys the welcoming committee or something? Here to make sure I feel at home in a new town?"

"Well, I am student body president and an all around nice person," Emily joked causing the girl to chuckle, "But that's not why we're here… unnn-fortunately."

"Ok look I know we just met, but you wouldn't by any chance be willing to help us destroy a man by pretending to like him, would you?" Casey blurted out quickly, wide eyes looking at the girl expectantly.

One of Kat's eyebrows rose into her hairline as she chuckled, looking highly amused by Casey's question. "How very… _John Tucker Must Die_ of you!"

"See!" Emily said whacking Casey's arm before turning back to Kat. "Well since you're new here we figured we should warn you about Derek, because you're his type—"

"Blond with boobs," Casey added.

"—And he'll probably be around any minute to hit on you," Emily continued, still in disbelief that the girl hadn't run away from them yet. "From the little bit that I've heard about you around school, you seem like a really cool person and we could really use some help with this."

"Yeah Derek desperately needs to be knocked off his high horse," Casey said with a roll of her eyes. "He can be quite charming and genuine sometimes, but a majority of the time he's just a jackass looking to score."

Emily looked over at Casey, her eyebrows raised in confusion. "He's really not **that** ba—"

"I'm in," Kat interrupted boldly.

"I thought that's what you'd—wait, what?!" Emily yelped her head whipping around to stare at Kat at the same time Casey exclaimed, "Really?!"

"Yeah," Kat responded, shrugging her shoulders as if what they were proposing to her was nothing new. "Not only am I excited at the possibility that I may have just made two friends not even a week after moving (albeit under… weird circumstances), but I totally get where you're coming from. My ex-boyfriend in Chicago was a chronic flirt slash jackass too. He would be SO amazing to me when we were alone and even when we were together in public but the second I wasn't around he'd be flirting up a storm with whomever struck his fancy at that moment."

"No way! It was the exact same way with me and Der— um…" Casey stopped herself, stiffening as she looked over at the still confused Emily with guilty eyes. "Uh… Derrin."

"I thought his name was Derek," Kat stated as Emily exclaimed, "Who's Derrin?"

"Derrin was an ex-boyfriend of mine from when I lived in Toronto," Casey spat out quickly, laughing nervously and pushing Emily's arm playfully. "I told you about him."

"Uh no! You didn't," Emily exclaimed, looking at Casey suspiciously.

"Wait so is it Derek or Derrin?" Kat asked looking just as baffled as Emily.

"Derek is who we are destroying. Derrin is Casey's ex," Emily explained, tearing her eyes away from Casey to look at Kat. "…apparently."

"So what did Derek do to you that makes you want to hit the destruct button?" Kat asked, looking over at Casey.

"He's my stepbrother."

"Really? Wow. Okay, umm… you **really** hate your family, don't you?"

"Our parents got married when we were 16 so Derek is no where close to being considered my family. He's just a— glorified housemate with a life goal to annoy me."

"Ok so resentment over being forced to live with someone you can't stand, I get why you might want to destroy him," Kat said to Casey before turning to Emily, "but why, may I ask, are you involved in this?"

"Best friend duties," Emily stated with a shrug. "And maybe a _tad_ bit of resentment. I had a crush on him for like 10 years and the one time he asked me out it was to bug her, so I might like to see him a little flustered by a girl."

"Alright I think I'm up to speed. You dated Derrin when you lived in Toronto. He was a jerk just like you're step-brother Derek who once dated Emily here just to spite you, which makes her want to help you help me to bring down Derek by dating him and as soon as he's attached dumping him like the dog he is?"

"Exactly! You catch on fast!" Casey exclaimed, patting Kat on the shoulder. "Nice job!"

"Thanks. I'm been known to be amazing," she joked. "So what exactly do I have to do to make him like me?"

"Well maybe we could hang out after school to get to know each other better and to explain our plan in more detail," Casey said as she wrote down her phone number and handed it to her, "but for now all you gotta do is play hard to get. He's a sucker for the chase."

"Easy enough. How do I find him?" Kat asked, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and closing her locker.

"Oh don't worry about that," Emily stated as the three of them began walking down the hall. "He'll find you. He's got a hot blond girl radar implanted in his very soul."

"Well alrighty then! I'll call you guys after school and we can get together and further develop this plan of yours?"

"Sounds good to me!" Casey stated clapping her hands together happily. "Ooo, I'm so excited! Thanks so much for this Kat."

"No problem. I'll see you devious male heart-breakers later."

They waved to Kat as she walked into a classroom, Casey turning to Emily and sighing once she was out of sight. "I cannot wait to see Derek's face when Kat breaks his heart," she stated cheerfully, bouncing as she waved her fingers at Emily in a goodbye. "Tootles!"

Emily shook her head, still feeling astounded at Casey's recent drastic change in personality. _Things are about to get interesting._

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"D-man! How's it going?"

Derek nodded his head, high five-ing a few guys from the hockey team as he made his way to his seat behind Sam in history class.

"Hey," Sam said looking up at Derek.

"What up man." Derek responded, slapping him on the back as he sat down.

"So how's it going in the war zone?" Sam asked.

"Just excellent!" Derek replied sarcastically. "Casey told Nora that I wasn't really at a hockey meeting yesterday which got us in even more trouble."

"Egh! Tough luck dude," Sam stated, looking at him sympathetically. "So what was the punishment?"

"Nora wanted to send us to 'couples therapy'," Derek stated shuttering, "But even Casey was against that so we and my dad managed to talk her out of it. But dude seriously, I really think Nora'll convince my dad to force us to go if me and Case keep this up. Even I know that we've been really bad lately."

"So you two are gonna start trying to get along again, like you did last year?" Sam asked looking at his friend with hopeful eyes.

"Hell no!" Derek exclaimed, his eyebrows raised in disgust. "We just agreed to not let them see us fight."

"Yeah I figured I was overshooting with the getting along thing. The only thing more impossible then that happening again would be— pft! I dunno, you guys dating or something." Sam chuckled at his own joke, shaking his head as he turned around to face the front.

Derek let out a nervous chuckle, his eyebrows raising. "Yeah… Me and Casey. Dating. You're hilarious Sam!" He shook his head, leaning back in his seat with a deep sigh.

\-------------000-----------/

20 minutes into the class Derek was beyond bored. He had tried sleeping but he was surprisingly not tired, so he looked up from the paper he had been mindlessly drawing on and glanced around the classroom. His eyes fell on a girl he didn't recognize and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Hey Sam," Derek whispered, leaning forward in his chair. Sam leaned back, glancing over his shoulder at him.

"What?"

"Who the new chick?" he asked nodding his head in the direction of the pretty blonde. "And why haven't I been introduced?"

"Her name's Kat. She just transferred from Chicago. Today's her first day."

"An American? Sweet. I call dibs."

"Dude you suck!" Sam replied, his hand held out in exasperation. "Just don't do the bracelet thing again. It's getting old."

"Aw. Poor action deprived Sammy. Sorry," Derek teased, using an American accent on the word. "And the bracelet is classic. Hasn't failed me yet." He smirked as he leaned back in his seat, putting his hands behind his head confidently. The hot new chick was his.

\------------000------------/

Derek popped the collar on his jacket making his way down the hall, running one hand through his hair as he checked his breath with the other. He stuck his chin up and put a smirk on his face as he fell into pace with Kat.

"You must be the new girl," he stated flirtatiously, pushing his sleeve up on his right arm and running it through his hair. "I'm—"

"Wa-wa-wait, let me guess!" She said, a coy grin filling her face as she came to a stop by her locker and turned to look up at him. "You must be… Derek."

"Impressive," Derek stated, clearly amused by her attitude. "You have a habit of guessing guys names, or has my reputation preceded me?"

_Casey and Emily really weren't kidding about this guy_, Kat thought as she laughed flirtatiously. She pulled open her locker and put the book in her hand inside. "The former, but this time I had a little help."

"What do you mean?"

Kat reached out and pulled his wrist towards her, pushing his sleeve up and gently tugging at the bright purple bracelet reading 'Derek' in messy stitched letters. Derek forced himself to look embarrassed, redirecting his eyes to the ground as he slid the bracelet off and put it in his jean pocket.

"My, uh… haha, my kid sister made that for me yesterday. She wouldn't stop crying until I swore I'd wear it."

"Aww," Kat stated with a knowing smile, turning back to her locker to pull out a text book. "So is there a reason why you struck up this engaging conversation or did you just do it to embarrass yourself?"

"Psh! Please, that wasn't embarrassed!" Derek said pretending to pretend not to be embarrassed. He made himself chuckle nervously again, regaining his 'composure' before leaning towards her and fixing her with a smug gaze. "I've heard a few nice things about you and I thought I'd introduce myself. Maybe be your own personal tour guide around the school?"

"Aw that's so sweet of you!" Kat gasped, gazing up at him in the best 'aren't you adorable?' face she could muster.

Derek shrugged looking at the ground shyly. "It's no problem. I'm used to—"

He cut himself off as she pulled a ripe looking, orange-red peach out of her locker, his body freezing as his words trailed into a gulp.

"_I told you Michella means nothing to me," Derek groaned, straddling the bench to face Casey, his left knee resting against her lower back. "We dated __**before**__ I even met you!" _

_She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously, her voice taking on a slightly softer tone than it previously had had. "And you __**promise**__ you haven't had any more romantic involvement with her since you set foot on this camp ground?"_

_Derek held his hands up in surrender. "I swear on my comic book collection."_

_Casey giggled, throwing her arms around his neck and placing a kiss on his nose. Derek smiled back at her, reaching forward to brush a hair that had fallen out of her braid back from her face. _

"_Ok so let's play a game," she said clasping her hands together against her chest. She reached forward and grabbed an apple off of her lunch tray. "Say Michella is this apple."_

"_Cay-sey!" Derek groaned, leaning his head forward to rest on her shoulder._

"_Der-rek!" Casey moaned back mockingly, pushing his head up and staring intently into his eyes. _

_He groaned again. "Fine. Michella is the apple. And you should know that you're the only person I ever have and ever will, let turn me into the pathetic mess you see in front of you."_

"_You're not a pathectic mess. You're just a big old sap!" Casey retorted, baring her teeth to him happily._

_Derek looked at her in disgust. "I am not a sap!"_

"_Yes you are. Now stop avoiding the subject." She flashed him another grin as she held the apple up in her hand. "Okay this is Michella and I'm…" she looked around, reaching to grab a fruit off of his tray, and holding it up in her left hand. "I'm this peach. Which one do you want?"_

_Derek didn't hesitate in taking the apple from her right hand and holding it up, causing Casey's face to fall. Derek smirked at her as he tossed the apple over his shoulder and onto the ground. He put his hand over Casey's on the peach and pulled her closer into his body. Reaching his other hand up he placed it on the side of her neck, his thumb gently caressing the curve of her jaw._

"_You know I want you peaches. I'll always want you."_

_Casey bit her lower lip happily and leaned forward, pressing her lips against his in a soft, lingering kiss. She pulled back and rested her forehead against his, scrunching her nose at him._

"_You know I kinda wanted to eat that apple."_

"Derek!"

"Sup?" he asked, as his glazed over eyes refocused on Kat. "Oh sorry."

"Are you okay? You just zoned out for like a minute."

"Oh yeah I'm cool," He said, putting the smirk back on his face, the twinkle in his eyes from before missing. "So how about that tour?"

Kat looked at him strangely for a moment before she shook her head and smiled back at him. "Thanks for the offer cutie, but I think I can find my way." She winked at him, letting her body brush against his as she walked past. She waited a moment before looking back and she smirked as she caught him checking her out.

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**I originally didn't intend to have another flashback so soon but it just came out. Tell me what you think loves.**


	7. Apologies for this Author's Note

Alright so…

**Alright so I hate when people 'post new chapters' that are actually author's notes but I felt you all needed an update.**

**I had the next three chapters written. I had an extremely detailed plot outline for the rest of the story. I had 20 or so pages of random scenes written for future chapters. I was about a week away from posting the next chapter. Then in the midst of me backing up all my files onto my shiny new external hard-drive, my laptops's hard-drive crashed. I lost everything. **

**So it's not so much 'Don't Read My Hard-Drive' as it is 'You Can't Read What Was Stored on My Hard-Drive Cause It Went To Computer Hell.'**

**I'm SO sorry but I don't know when I will be continuing this story. I'm not saying at the moment that I will never get back to it, but I'm too upset from losing everything on my computer that I have ever written to even begin to rewrite what I had. So I'm sorry for the long hiatus that just become ten times longer.**

**MaybeBaby27**


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